The problem with our judicial and prison systems is disregard

Oct. 2, 2013

Written by

Quint Qualls

Opinions Editor

The most surprising aspect Iíve learned covering the federal court in Nashville for The Tennessean during the past month is how prejudicial our judicial system is.

Itís not something obvious. In fact, I never realized how it all worked until I began watching countless people sentenced for crimes that their socioeconomic status led them to commit.

In one case, a Vice Lords gang member tried his own case in court. He was highly intelligent and eloquent, but ultimately, he was sentenced to prison.

A part of me couldnít help but think that if this man had been given the same educational and social opportunities as anyone else, he probably wouldnít have ended up trying his own case before a federal jury. So many drug and gang-related cases are in the federal judiciary system. It really makes you wonder whatís being done to combat the core issues associated with crime.

The truth is, not a whole lot of strategy in the criminal justice system exists other than ďlock people up and keep them locked up.Ē While the rehabilitation efforts look good on paper, they donít really measure up when prisoners are released.The Bureau of Justice Statistics has found that more than two-thirds of released prisoners will be rearrested within three years.

I canít imagine itís easy to be an ex-convict. It doesnít matter what crime was committed or how long a sentence was ó being dropped back into society with a prison record can be complicated and make it difficult to reintegrate.

In this country, you get the justice that you can afford. If you arenít rich, you likely wonít have access to a competent attorney who cares. Instead, youíll get a public defender who has a hundred other cases exactly like yours.

Our prison system is messed up, and itís only getting worse. Now, mega-corporations have begun imprisoning people for profit.

ďThe companies are paid by the state, and their profit depends on spending as little as possible on the prisoners and the prisons,Ē writes author Adam Gopnik in the New Yorker. ďItís hard to imagine any greater disconnect between public good and private profit: the interest of private prisons lies not in the obvious social good of having the minimum necessary number of inmates but in having as many as possible, housed as cheaply as possible.Ē

The idea of a private prison system is a part of the current culture of corporatism permeating American society right now. You might remember the ďKids for CashĒ scandal that rocked Pennsylvania in 2008. Two Luzerne County Judges accepted money from the owner of a for-profit juvenile detention company.

One girl was sent to a wilderness camp for making fun of her principal on MySpace, while many other students were subjected to overly-harsh sentences so one owner of a detention center could make money.

Prison privatization is socially dangerous ó and it does not matter what politicians or CEOs say. Millions of Americans, many of whom were not convicted of violent or dangerous crimes will be in the grasp of corporations if we continue to privatize prisons. The way I see it, the Eighth Amendment will become secondary to profit if privatization persists.